Kafei
by MarcWinter
Summary: A story of my version of Kafei from Hyrule High Sophomore year. Modern Termina
1. Chapter 1

**The Legend of Zelda is property of Nintendo.**

* * *

Well, this is actually happening.

We are on our way back to Termina. We have our own car, but they sent an escort car to guide us. I don't think it's for protection, just to make sure we don't get side tracked. I guess this head of city council is a huge step up from just being a member of the council. We never had this kind of set up when we lived back in Hyrule. It's great that dad got the job, but I really didn't want to leave Hyrule. This may sound whiny, but I didn't really want to give up a good life to go back to an old one I can't remember too well. Mom claims that "I had so much fun when we used to live in Termina." To be perfectly honest, I can really only remember Jim, Anju, and Kurt. They were my best friends in Termina.

Link and Sheik were my best friends when I still lived in Hyrule. They're pretty awesome. Link was crushing on this girl named Zelda for longest time. Two days ago, Link took Zelda to a dance at Hyrule High. I would like to think that it softened the blow when I told everybody I was moving. Sheik was a quiet guy. Never said much, but he wasn't shy, if that makes sense. The guys came over yesterday to help us finish up packing. They also came to see me off, with a few other people from school. There was Link and Sheik, obviously, Zelda, Malon, Shad, and Midna. Coincidentally, a week earlier, Midna moved to Hyrule FROM Termina. It seems we were part of a tradeoff, but I can't prove anything.

Oh, yeah, by the way, I'm Kafei. I'm a sophomore at Clock Town High, in Termina. The first you would notice when seeing me is my purple hair. There's a pretty good story behind it. It was in eighth grade, I was doing a lab in science class with Link. We were working with… Well, first I should say that I've had fairly long hair for most of my life. Anyway, we were working with chemicals and, it was like perfect timing, right before I went up to push my hair out of my eyes, something spilled on my hands. It must've reacted with the keratin, or protein, or whatever in my hair and turned it into a cool purple color. So I decided to dye the rest of my hair purple. I've been told it looks pretty good.

Well, I think that covers up to now... and we just got into Termina.

Termina is a lot less noisy than Hyrule. Not to say that Hyrule is bothersome, Termina just seems a lot more peaceful and at rest. I think we're going to dad's office first. It seems too… official, I guess, to be a house. When we got out, I saw our escort get out as well. He was wearing a rather impressive uniform, full a medals. He was taller than all of us. Now, I'm taller than my parents by an inch or two. They are pretty equal in height themselves. So he seemed like a man in charge. He came up to us and shook my dad's hand.

"Hello, Mr. Dotour." He greeted. He voice sounded like, he was trying to sound confident, but he was too unsure of himself. "I'm Viscen, captain of the guard."

Dad smiled at him. "Great to meet you, Captain Viscen."

Viscen shook his head. "Please sir, Viscen will be fine, no need to address me by my title." He looked to my mother. "Mrs. Dotour, I assume?"

My mother smiled. "Aroma. You can call me Aroma."

Viscen smiled back. "Great." And, finally, he looked at me. "And you're Kafei, correct?"

"That's me!" I said.

He laughed. "Ok, excellent. You can all follow me inside."

He walked into the building, us trailing behind. When you first enter, there's a room with a small walk to a desk in between two doors. There are benches and plants all around the room. It has some sort of a cross shaped pattern on the carpet and the walls had many designs on them. There was a lady at the desk that looked up when she heard the door open. She smiled when she saw us.

"Hi Viscen!" she called out. Or maybe she was just excited to see the guard captain.

Viscen did a wave. "Hi there Karen." He said back. "Ok, I'll show you guys around. Welcome to the Mayor's Residance!"

Residance? This place is where we live? I'm curious as to how that'll work. This building is pretty small. Doesn't seem fit for a residency.

"Let me show you where you'll be living first." He told us. We walked up and to the right door. When we saw inside, I noticed how roomy it looked. I really hadn't seen it coming. It had floral wallpaper and a tiled floor. There was a big window on the north wall. There was also a big fireplace, and a door leading farther back into the building. My mom seemed to like the room.

"Oh, honey, we can put my mother's rug in here. Oh and right here I can place my china cabinet!"

"You're right, and we can put in the couch and your chair and tea table." They seemed to enjoy this place already.

"Your bedrooms are back here." Viscen said standing by the door by the fireplace. He lead us inside and for a bedroom, it wasn't bad. There were three beds. Two were close to each other, and one was a bit more put off. There was some kind of wooden divider along the wall and ceiling, almost as if to make privacy for the lonely bed. It had the same wallpaper and flooring from the living room area. There was also a fireplace. I moved the chain out of the way and found that there was actually only one fireplace that had openings on both sides of the wall.

Viscen walked over to the divider and said, "There is a curtain… in… here… oof…" And he moved the wooden panel and pulled a curtain out. It seemed like it could reach all the way to the other side. "A few decades back, there was a mayor with a teenage daughter." Viscen explained. "She was so concerned about her privacy, that she asked her dad to have this curtain put in."

"Kafei, you can have that bed if you want it." My dad offered, my mom nodding in agreement.

I shrugged. "Ok, sure, I'll take it."

"Great!" Viscen said, obviously happy with how quickly we were taking comforting in our living arrangements. "Mr. Dotour, I would like to show you your office now."

"Oh, Ok. Good. Lead the way." Dad said. And he and Vincent left. My mom began looking around the room. "Oh, Kafei you can also put your desk back there."

"Yeah, it looks like there will be enough room." I agreed.

Wait. Desk… Oh man, I have to go to school tomorrow!

**

* * *

There we go. The start of Kafei's story. **

**The only time you saw Mr. D in the game, he was between a rock and a hard place. But when you show him the couple's mask, he reminds everybody that they should be with their families. So I'm really going to show a connection between the Dotour family.**

**I called the receptionist Karen. And Kurt is the Curiosity Shop Guy.**

**Obviously, the beginning was just a recap. In case people read this story, but they didn't read Hyrule High.**

**And yeah. A lot more of a story to come.**


	2. Old Friends

The building was bigger than I had expected. It was located more on the west side of Termina, near the post office. There was one entrance that was actually in town. The rest of the exits, and most of the building itself, were outside in the surrounding field. There was one exit that, if you followed it directly, it would take you right to the lake outside of town.

I got out of the car to get a better look. From the outside, I guessed it would only have one floor. I heard Viscen's door shut. He came up beside me and said, "As you may have gathered, this is the school you'll be attending."

"Yeah I assumed," I replied.

"Do you want me to guide you around inside?" Viscen offered.

"Nah, thanks though. No offense, but if I walked in escorted by a guard, a guard captain no less, it might make unwanted first impressions." I explained.

He nodded. "That makes sense. Should I have somebody wait here to take you home after school?"

"I can walk."

He shrugged. "Alright. Call your parents if you need anything."

I nodded and he got in the car and drove off. Protection for the son of the head of the city council? This new job must be a really big deal.

* * *

I don't know why I was worried about a guard drawing unwanted attention. I forgot that people around here weren't used to my purple hair. People sitting in the common area and passer bys were all staring at me. Not exactly the first impression that I wanted to make. Thankfully, amidst the sea of eyes, I saw a pair that looked familiar. Once they saw me, I smiled.

"Kafei!"

"Hey there, Anju." I greeted. She ran up and hugged me. She broke the hug and brushed some hair back. She was wearing a white shirt with jeans. She had the same vest she wore at the dance. It complimented her hair nicely.

"You're finally here!" She said smiling.

That got me a bit worried. "Yeah, why? Am I late? I was that first hour starts at 7:40 so I thought that 7:30 would be a good time to…"

"No, no Kafei," She began. "Kafei you're fine! I've just been waiting all weekend to see you!"

"Right, right. I knew that." A red haired girl walked up beside Anju. There was something about this girl that reminded me of Malon. It was probably her fiery red hair. Malon's eyes were a clear blue, where as this girl's were blue-green. She was wearing a blue shirt with capris. She had very white smile.

Anju began the introduction. "Oh, right! Kafei this is my best friend, Cremia. And Cremia this is an old friend of mine, Kafei."

"Hey there." I greeted.

"Hi." She responded with a shy smile.

"Hey let's go see the guys." Anju suggested. "Come on Kafei.

I followed the girls out of the commons and into the hallway of lockers. There were people scattered throughout. We walked up to two guys in particular. One had curly brown hair, tan skin, and brown eyes. He was wearing a blue and green shirts and vest combo. The other had red hair underneath a red baseball cap that was on backwards. He was a bit on the short side. The white shirt he had on said "Clockstoppers". They were both wearing jeans.

Anju spoke up. "Hey Kurt. Hey Jim."

"Hey Anju." Curly hair said.

"Hey Cremia." Baseball cap said.

"Guys, this is Kafei." Both of their faces shot at me. They shouted, "Kafei!"

That was unexpected. I really didn't expect anything more than a "who?" from them.

"Dude, it's me! Kurt!" Curly hair said.

"And me, the guy who stands next to Kurt!" Baseball Cap said.

"Hey Jim." I smiled.

"Kafei, Kafei," Jim said putting his arm around my shoulder. "Anju told us you were coming back. She also told us your hair was a bit different than what we might expect. But, dude, this is something you have to see in person to really get what she's talking about!"

"Look at this!" Kurt said shaking my head.

"Yeah, yeah…" I laughed. "So what's up with you guys?"

They looked at each other then looked back at me. "Nothing," Was their response.

" Oh right, right.7 years of nothing?" I asked

"Pretty much." Kurt said. "Oh hey, what are your classes?"

"Oh crud," a realization had hit me. "I haven't been to the office yet. Where is it?"

"Oh, this way. "Anju said, gesturing for us to follow her. As the 5 of us were walking down the hall, a tall, skinny kid with a shaved head walked by. Without even turning or acknowledging us at all, he lifted his hand and smacked Jim's hat off.

Jim went back to pick up his hat. "Hey guys, maybe Sakon should show Kafei to the office, you know, because he has been there more than anybody else we know."

Sakon turned and laughed at Jim. "Short stuff, don't even think you can get back at me. I'll step on you."

Jim walked up and put his hand on Sakon's shoulder and the other hand in his pocket. It seemed like he was holding onto something. "You're right." Jim said with a smile.

Sakon threw Jim's hand off of his shoulder and turned around to leave. Jim took his hand out of his pocket and patted Sakon on the back saying, "See you later big guy." Jim joined us again and we resumed walking to the office. I turned and looked at Sakon's back. There was a sticky note on it that said "World Class Douchebag".

**Sorry for the long wait. Things are going on that require my immediate attention. I'm sure I'll be back to a steadier pace soon though.**

**I made Sakon the jerk because I couldn't think of a way to humanize Skull Kid. Except for like… Skyler… Kide… or something like that. Yeah, so let's just go with Sakon. And I replaced the swordsman school with and actual school**

**I did this chapter on a different word processing program, and I thought I had longer paragraphs than what it turned out to be, so I apologize for that.**


	3. Job Search

My first week came and went. Now my second week was coming to a close. I had spent most of my time catching up with the guys, since most of my classes were things I had already learned back at Hyrule High. I had also asked about what was up with Sakon. Turns out, the answer was something I already knew. He was a jerk. He was a jerk for the sake of being a jerk. That definitely wasn't something you would get by looking at him. He always has a smile on his face and laughs a lot, but it's usually at you rather than with you.

My purple hair got me my 15 minutes of fame, but now I'm just like every other kid in the hall. I really only stay around Cremia, Anju, Jim, and Kurt. I can say hi to a majority of the people in my classes, but I don't know any of them really well yet. Spring break was next week, which means I moved here at a good time. While I may already know most of what is going on in my classes, teachers don't want to bring up new subject right before a week-long vacation, so it's pretty much just constant review.

During break Jim and Kurt said they were going to look around for jobs. I took them up on their offer to tag along because any time anything I wanted came out, I want to be able to get it ASAP. There are quite a few places we can check out, judging by what they're saying. There are plenty of miscellaneous shops around town, so I 'm guessing we can find jobs somewhere. The best part is, Anju's parents own a small inn for people coming by town. We decided, though, that the Stock Pot would be a fallback. We didn't want to make Anju's parents feel like we expect jobs just because we're friends with their daughter.

Speaking of Anju, I forgot how much fun it was to talk to her. She really is a happy person and always seems to bring a lighter tone wherever she goes. She's awesome… Her, uh, her friend Cremia is much more shy than her. Or at least that's what I see. I asked the guys about it and they said she's more talkative than Anju. I don't mean shy like doesn't talk much or doesn't make eye contact. I mean like she is quick to get attention off of her. I must not bring up topics that are easy to talk about. Cremia also lives on a milk ranch. Anju tells me that it's got a lot of open space. Kurt and Jim haven't seen it, so I asked her if we could all see it sometime. She said yes, but that it really wasn't as impressive as Anju made it seem.

It's Friday so not a single person is focused in class. Thankfully, I managed to stay awake until lunch. I sit by my usual friends and every-so-often somebody else will sit down by us. Or more precisely, by Anju and Cremia. From what I have heard, the girls are prime potential dating candidates for the male population of our school. Believe it or not, that actually is exactly what I've heard. Somebody actually began talking to me and told me, "You are lucky to be close with Anju and Cremia. They're prime potential dating candidates for the male population of this school." Yeah, I really didn't see that coming. It seemed he was comparing the two to mere test subjects than actual people. That's what you get for taking advanced biology I guess.

Back to what I was talking about earlier though, we were all at lunch. Nobody extra decided to stop by, so we could just talk among friends. The talk about job searching was still on our minds.

"I'm still offering you guys' jobs at the Stock Pot." Anju brought up.

Jim shook his head. "We told you why we're not doing that."

"We could apply at the Fireworks Shop." Kurt suggested. "They're sure to be getting more business within the next couple of months."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Don't you remember? The Carnival of Time." Anju asked me. "The big festival we hold every year during the summer? It goes way back many years to the founding of Termina. Nowadays it's just an excuse to have fun and get together with people you know." I remembered now. My family never actually stayed in town for the Carnival. We always left to go see relatives elsewhere.

"I assume there are fireworks that people set off?" I said.

"Dude, you're psychic." Kurt said, faking amazement.

"It's one of my many talents. Could we get jobs there? I mean, is it legal for minors to handle fireworks?"

"Oh yeah. Probably not." Jim said, disappointed.

"You guys could apply at the Milk Bar Latte across the street from Inn." Anju through out there.

We all looked at each other. "That could work." Kurt said, thinking more about it. "I mean, we couldn't bartend because they do serve beer and stuff along with the milk, but maybe we could get stock boy jobs or help clean up afterwards."

"Hey, a milk bar? Cremia, does your ranch sell its milk to the bar?" I asked.

She made a small nod. "Yeah we usually deliver on the weekends. I go with as long as it's a Saturday night."

Kurt smiled. "Great! Let's go there tonight."

Jim spoke up. "We would have to go there right after school. Don't forget, only members are allowed in. The bar itself opens at 10. So when it is officially open, we wouldn't be allowed in. We'd also be working some late nights."

I shrugged. "It's spring break. We don't have to be in school the mornings after. And when school starts again, we can work weekends."

Jim nodded in understanding. "Yeah ok. That makes sense."

"Can I tag along with you guys when you go to ask for the jobs?" Anju asked. "Nobody has a reservation tonight, so I'll be bored at the Stock Pot."

"Sure." I told her. "Cremia are you coming too?"

She shook her head. "I'm needed at the ranch tonight."

"Alright." Kurt said. "Meet up with us if your plans change."

And the bell rang.

* * *

Anju, Kurt, and I were waiting at my house for Jim. I showed them around the main entry and our living arrangements. I couldn't show them my dad's office because he was in a meeting. After that we just waited in the hallway. We were talking about spring break and what we planned on doing besides working when Karen began talking to us.

"So, what are you kids up to?" she asked. It seemed weird that Karen would refer to us as kids, because she seems like she is 19 years old.

"We're waiting for another friend of ours." I answered. "Oh hey guys this is Karen. She's our receptionist." I said gesturing down the hall.

"Hi Karen!" Anju said with a smile. Kurt waved.

"Hi there." Karen responded, but then the phone started ringing. Just then, Viscen walked out of my dad's office.

"Hey, Viscen." I greeted.

"Hey there Kafei." He responded.

"Guys, this is Viscen, Captain of the Guard." I said.

"Hi." They both greeted. Viscen nodded to them in acknowledgement.

"What was going on in there?" I asked.

"Oh, they're just talking about possibly making that old communal laundry pool into some kind of swimming pool." He told us.

"That would be cool," Kurt said. "But why bother? We have a lake 3 miles or so to the west of us."

Viscen nodded. "That's most of the argument against the idea right there."

We were talking a little more about it, until Jim walked in the door.

"Oh, hey, he's here." I said. "Viscen we'll see you later."

"Where are you guys going?" he asked.

We all got up. "We're going to see if we can get jobs at the milk bar down the road."

He smiled. "The Milk Bar Latte? Say hi to Barten for me."

"You know the owner of the Milk Bar?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah he was one of my buddies when we were in high school. I haven't seen him much ever since I became a guard. I should go see him some time…" Viscen walked away, reminiscing about his youth.

"Let's go." Jim said.

* * *

I had been to the Stock Pot Inn a couple of times in the past two weeks and every time I saw the Milk Bar, but didn't think anything of it. It was a small building, a bit too small to seem like a bar, and a round sign at the top of the buildings front wall. There was also a small sign closer to the door. I asked Jim and Kurt if either of them had been inside before.

"No, but my dad is a member so he's been there and he's told me about it." Jim said.

If we got the jobs there, it would actually be the best possible situation for me. I could work on the weekends and get the pocket money I want. School wouldn't interfere, my parents would be happy I'm doing something productive, my house was just up the street, and I could be near my friends all day. Of course, my possible good fortune revolves around an "if".

We walked inside and heard a radio playing. It was probably at a low volume, but the place was fairly big, so it had an echo. Speaking of which, I thought this place would be a small little pub, but it actually goes down into the ground making the actually building outside very deceiving. There was a long staircase leading down into the bar. There was a big stage near the bar. It had a big light set up and a couple of plants in the back. The bar was in a 7 shape with stools all around it. It seemed like it would be hard to manage on a busy night. There were three huge jars in the back of the bar, I assumed that were just for show. Behind the main part of the bar there were glasses, mugs, and plates of many different varieties on the shelves. At the corner where the shelves meet the big fake jars there was a door that said "Employees only". There were purple lights giving the bar ambience. Two ceiling fans spun slowly over head.

There was a man on the floor sweeping and humming along with the radio. He was a bit on the chubby side. He wore a white shirt with a black vest and a bow tie. He wore pants with a cow pattern on them. He had his hair in a ponytail but it looks like he is balding on top. I'm guessing that within the next few years he won't have any up there. Under his big nose, he had a mustache that almost went to his ears, so it looked like his hair was part of it.

He must've heard while we were looking around because he turned around and said, "WHOA! You kids almost gave me a heart attack!" He had a gruff voice.

"Sorry sir." I said. "We just came in to ask you if you had any positions available."

He scratched his chin. "Please call me Mr. Barten. You kids want jobs here?"

Jim, Kurt, and I nodded. He looked over at Anju. She quickly shook her head. "No, no, not me. I work at the Stock Pot across the street. My family owns it."

He looked at her. "Ah, so you're Tortus' daughter."

She nodded. He looked over at us. "You guys do understand that I can't have you working at the bar, right? We do serve alcohol and you guys are underage."

Kurt nodded. "Yes sir. We were hoping you had an opening for stock boys or a cleaner of some kind."

"Hmm… Let's see." He began glancing around the bar. "I could use some stock boys. I got a lot of crates back there that could be organized." Mr. Barten said pointing towards the door in the corner.

"Great!" Jim said. "When can we start?"

"Hold on there, son." He said laughing. "I only have the money to hire two of you."

That shut us up immediately. Only two of us could work there? We had planned on all working together. Should none of us even work here at all? Should we go find another place?

"You guys work here." Kurt spoke up.

We both turned to him. "You guys could use the money more than I could. I can go look around some more for a different job."

"Come on, Kurt, you don't have to-"I began. By looking at his face, I didn't see any signs of disappointment or anger. He really didn't seem to let down by these turn of events.. He wanted us to have the jobs. "Thanks dude."

"Yeah thanks." Jim said.

"Well, I don't really need you guys today." Mr. Barten began. "Why don't you come back tomorrow…" He said looking at us.

"Kafei." I said.

"Jim."

"Kafei and Jim. Got it. You guys can come in tomorrow at, hmmm, let's say… 8 pm." He told us.

"Can do. See you then." I said. "Oh, by the way, Viscen says hi." We all began heading up the stairs. Just as we were leaving the bar, I heard Mr. Barten start laughing. Jim and I were psyched and reasonably so. Anju and Kurt were both happy for us.

Suddenly Anju asked, "Kurt, Why did you let them have the jobs? Not that you guys don't deserve them or anything, but why did you take the fall?"

"I've wanted to work somewhere else for a while. They only have 1 opening, so I knew we couldn't try there." He explained.

"Really?" Jim asked. "What is it?"

Kurt smiled and said, "Follow me." And he ran off. Being an ex-running back you'd think I could catch up to him, but 4 years off of the field really takes a toll on a guy. Jim was able to stay up pretty close to him, while Anju and I stayed behind him. We ran for like 5 minutes.

"Dude…" I said panting heavily. "Why… did you take us… to the other side of town?"

"For this." Kurt said. And he pointed to the store in front of us.

The sign read "Curiosity Shop".

**I changed the bomb shop to the fireworks shop.**


	4. On the Job

**I'm not sure if this is how it goes in the game, but here's how I'll be using the name "milk bar".**

**The Milk Bar Latte is the official name.**

**The Milk Bar is just an easier version of the proper name. **

**the/a milk bar is when they are referring to it as a thing, not it's specific name. **

**There are a couple of references back to Hyrule High in this chapter.**

Kurt, Cremia, Jim, and I all went over to the Stock Pot Inn on Saturday during the afternoon. Jim and Kurt went into the kitchen in back to grab a snack. Cremia was in the bathroom. Anju and I were talking in the main area. Technically, she was working and I was distracting her, but there wasn't anybody coming in for over an hour, so it wasn't a big deal. I was leaning on the counter to talk to her as she told me about what was going on for her tonight. As I was talking to her I took a look around.

The Stock Pot Inn was a modest little place where you could stay overnight. It had two stories, 4 rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a main lobby-esque area. It had wooden floor in the main area and tiling in the kitchen. The main lobby area had a TV hanging in one corner and it always had the news on. The bathroom was at basement level, but there wasn't actually a basement. The downstairs room was permanently reserved for Anju's grandmother and an upstairs room was for Anju's family. One of the upstairs rooms was more of a communal room, so you got a place to stay, but no privacy. So only one was like a traditional hotel. You can get a key, a fireplace with a divider from Anju's family's room, two beds, and a table so you can eat in your room. It is, however, a little bit more expensive. There was also a communication system wired through the walls to tell people when the Inn was serving dinner.

Anju began talking about my first day at the Milk Bar.

"And you have to come and see me before you start tonight okay? The Stock Pot closes for the night at 8:30, so you couldn't come afterwards."

I nodded. "I will. I promise."

She smiled. "Great!"

Jim, Kurt, and Cremia came to the counter. "So what exactly is the Curiosity Shop?" Jim asked.

"It's kind of like a good as new shop." Kurt answered. "They find or take in old things, fix 'em up, and resell them. If you look at the walls of the store, it's packed with miscellaneous things. It's pretty awesome. "

"When are you going in for the job?" I asked.

"I already asked. They don't open the door until 10 o'clock at night, so I went in then. They had a part time employee working, so he couldn't give me a job. He did, however, give me an application." Kurt said, pulling a sheet of paper out of his pocket and unfolding it. "I planned on filling it out during study hall, but I had to finish my Hylian Studies homework. So I'll do it today."

"Dude, you can practically do the homework while he's talking. Why didn't you finish it in class?" Jim asked.

"Because he was talking about the projects we're going to start the week after break." Kurt answered.

"Projects?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, Jim, the project he talked about every day this week? You know, when we get in a group and research an important moment in Termina's history." Anju told him.

"I don't remember him mentioning that at all." Jim told us.

Kurt was beginning to fill out his application. "You're usually trying to make sure nothing dangerous got on the back of your eyelids." He said.

I laughed. "Sleep a lot, Jim?"

"Eh, a little." He replied.

"What should I put under Talents/Skills?" Kurt asked us.

"Write down, 'Can fill out an application.'" I told him. Anju laughed. "So, Cremia, what are your plans for tonight?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Nothing really. Just what I usually do. I will be making a delivery tomorrow night though. To the Milk Bar Latte."

"Hey that's great! We'll see you there!" Jim said.

"Oh, you guys got the jobs there?" she asked us.

"Jim and I did," I told her. "Kurt's trying for the Curiosity Shop." She gave me a small smile and a nod. Just then the door opened. A guy wearing a white running suit and a red hat walked in. He had a red bag hanging down from a strap on his shoulder. We all made room for him as he came up to the counter.

Anju smiled and said, "Welcome to the Stock Pot Inn!"

The man smiled. "Anju, you know me. You don't have to say that every time I come in."

She shrugged. "I know that, Pat. It's just to something I'm supposed to do for visitors."

He reached into his bag and pulled out a letter. He handed it to Anju and said, "Just a letter for your mom and dad."

She smiled. "Thanks Pat." He nodded and went for the door.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"That's our postman, Pat." Anju said.

"Haven't you ever seen him bike around town and stopping at all of the postboxes?" Jim asked.

I shook my head. "No. But I never really paid attention, so I might have."

Anju walked over to the Comm system on the wall. She flicked a switch, held down a button, and spoke into it saying, "Mom, we got a letter." She walked back over to us and told me, "Pat's really dedicated to his job."

"Yeah he never really stops to talk unless he's ending his route." Jim said.

"I guess I never really think about mail being used much. I'm so used to email and things of the sort." I told them.

"The mail in Termina is usually just for official things. Like medical things or governmental things." Anju told me.

"You'd think I would know that." I said, feeling stupid. A woman came downstairs and went behind the desk next to Anju. She had the same hair color as Anju but it was in a bun. She was a little heavy set and had a stern look on her face.

"Hi mom." Anju greeted. She handed the woman the letter.

"Hi Anju. Anybody come in yet?" Her mother asked. Anju shook her head. Her mom looked at all of us. "Hey gang." Then she looked right at me. "Who are you?" she asked me.

"Oh mom, this is Kafei." Anju told her. "You remember Kafei, don't you?"

"Ah, yes, little Kafei Dotour." She looked at me, nodding.

"Hi ma'am." I greeted.

"Nice seeing you again." She said and went back upstairs.

"Wow. She's probably the first person I've met who didn't comment on my hair." I told the group.

* * *

Cremia stayed at the Stock Pot, while Jim, Kurt, and I went to my house. It was the closest and we didn't feel like walking too far. We played Xbox until about 7. They both left and I ate dinner before I went into work. At the table, dad was talking about how he was finally getting used to the way things run around here. My mom was saying she was thinking about getting more involved in the community. She told us that she didn't want to go back to being a teacher, so she applied for the open position as leader of the post office. Becoming postmistress would be taking on a big responsibility due to the Carnival being a few months away. She wants to do it anyway.

At quarter to 8 I walked down to the Stock Pot. I walked in and Anju was watching TV.

She looked at me and smiled. "Hey Kafei!"

I waved and walked up to the counter. "What's going on?" I asked gesturing towards the TV.

"Nothing really. There's talk of hiring the Indigo-Gos for the Carnival. Other than that it's been slow."

I chuckled to myself. "A guy I knew back in Hyrule, his goal was to become the guitarist in that band. His ex-girlfriend wants to be their singer."

"That's cool! Are you heading over to the Milk Bar?"

"Yep. Just stopped in to say hi." I explained.

A voice came from the Comm system. "Anju, tell your parents I'm going to bed."

"Okay Grandma." Anju replied.

"How does the voice thing work exactly?" I asked.

"Oh. It's pretty simple." She began. "This one is the master speaker. It has switches that connect it to every room. I turn on a switch to a room, and when I hold down the button, what I say gets sent to that room. I can have multiple on at a time, or even all of them. The rooms themselves can only talk to the main speaker."

Jim walked in. He saw me and smiled. "Yeah, I thought you'd be in here flirting with Anju."

That was unexpected. I need an escape. Don't look at Anju. Just get out of here. "Funny. You ready?"

"Of course!" He answered.

"Cool." I walked towards the door. I turned back and waved. "See you later, Anju!"

Wow. Her face is RED.

* * *

We walked into the bar. He hadn't given us uniforms or anything, so we just wore some ratty clothes. No point getting good clothes dirty in a dusty room. Mr. Barten was wiping down the bar. He saw us and smiled. "Hey there guys! You ready?"

We nodded. "Great, great. Come with me." He said opening up the end of the bar. We followed him into the back room. There was a hallway that split to the left and right. On the right there was a small walk, then there was a huge open area filled with boxes on four big, long, metal shelving units. They each had four shelves on them. There was a big garage door on the back wall. If it were open you would be able to go out into the field. I'm guessing that's where inventory deliveries came in.

"Ok, originally, the four shelving units each had one beverage on it." He explained to us. "Over the years I've gotten sloppy and have begun just throwing things wherever they fit. I have trouble whenever I have to find something nowadays, so if you guys could start organizing everything, that would be great. I don't expect you guys to finish this tonight or tomorrow, but sometime this week would be good. There isn't a delivery until tomorrow so I'll show you what to do for that tomorrow night. We officially open at 10 so things will be quiet. If things get too much for me to handle alone, I ask one of you to come out and wash the glasses for me while I serve. You guys don't have to wear anything in particular, unless you're out there. Then you should put on one of the vests in that cabinet." He walked back to the hall and pointed to the other side. The only thing there was a small cabinet. "Ok, I think that's all of it. I would start by taking everything off of the shelves and separating them. There is a ladder you can use to get to the top shelves. One person goes on the ladder, another hold it steady for him. Do NOT go separately do things. If one of you falls, the other should come and tell me. The earliest we close is at 1. We will stay open as long as there is somebody in the bar. That is about it… Come and ask me if you have questions."

He went back out to the bar. We turned around and looked at the huge work load ahead of us.

"Ok, I think we should set up the shelves as Milk, Chateau, Alcohol, and Food." Jim suggested.

"What's Chateau?" I asked.

"A special kind of milk. It's a taste that nobody else can copy. It's only made a Romani Ranch, the ranch where Cremia lives." He told me.

"Oh right I knew that. Duh." I said. I had it once back in first grade. It was really good, but veeerrry expensive. "There really isn't a lot of food. We don't serve whole meals just small snacks for people to munch on. Why not use one shelf for beers, another for wines, and put the food somewhere else in its own area?"

Jim nodded. "Makes sense."

I grabbed the ladder and we got to work.

We went to the top of the first shelving unit. While we we're clearing it off, we were pretty silent. We were just focusing on the job ahead of us. I was on top of the ladder with Jim holding it steady, whistling a nameless tune. I would grab the case and hand it down. Then Jim would place it on the ground. After we were done with the shelf, we were going to put them together somewhere that was out of the way. I had just about finished the top row when Jim suddenly said, "Anju has been talking a lot more ever since you came around."

I stopped gathering all of the cases to me. I looked down and asked, "Was that comment addressed to me, or were you thinking out loud and I'm eavesdropping?"

He nodded. "It was addressed to you. And I know you wouldn't know that, what with you being new here and you coming here being the cause of her talking."

I went back to the cases. "I couldn't follow that."

"It's not too important. Ever since you came, Anju has begun putting more into our conversations. Not that she was standoffish before, but she just seems to enjoy life more." He told me.

"Hmmm. Really…" I was trying to sound not interested. I think it might have worked because Jim quickly changed the subject.

"Hey, Kaf, that receptionist at your house is kind of cute…"

It was 2 o' clock in the morning when Mr. Barten came in and told us we could head home. "If you guys ever want to invite your friends you can. When they come in I'll call you guys out so you can talk to them."

We slowly nodded. We were really tired and completely EXHAUSTED. If this warehouse wasn't at a constantly cool temperature for the milk, I think we would have died from overheating. We managed to clear the top shelf completely and half of the bottom one. Jim actually took a small nap for a half hour while I worked on the bottom of a shelf.

"Could you guys handle working every night during spring break? Actually, tomorrow through Wednesday." He asked us. We looked at each other. "You're making $10 an hour." He told us.

We worked since 8, so we made $60 today. "Yes, we will definitely be back." Jim said for us.

"Great!" Mr. Barten smiled at us. "Come on I'll show you how I want you to write down your hours."

This is going to be nice.

**I know that in the game the milk bar doesn't close until 6 am, but it seemed unfair to make 2 teenagers work that long.**

**The post man actually wears a back pack in game, but that seems inefficient so I made it a sling bag  
**

**I also realize that there was no mention of a communication system in the Stock Pot Inn, but hey, this is modern Termina, it might've been installed.**


	5. The Backroom

I slept in until about noon. Even with all that sleep, I still felt tired with the added bonus of being sore. Having to go back there tonight wasn't too exciting, but I would be seeing Cremia there. Maybe I'll be able to actually get her to talk about herself. I went to the Stock Pot after lunch. It may seem like I hate my own home, but there really isn't much to do. Dad's always in his office doing paperwork or taking calls or he's not even home because the city council is meeting. Mom is trying to get some assembly to give her the position of postmistress. Viscen has to constantly make rounds around town, and Karen is always on the phone. So I like my friends' places better.

I walked into the inn and there was a man at the counter. I had never met him, but I guessed he was Anju's father. He seemed fairly fit for a guy working in a bed and breakfast. Judging by the wrinkles by his eyes, I'm guessing he smiles a lot. As if on cue, a big smile grew on his face. It reminded me of Anju's smile. He seemed like a friendly person.

"Hey there! Welcome to the Stock Pot Inn!" He had a loud, booming voice.

"Hey, is Anju here?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Nah, she, Cremia, and Kurt all went to the shooting range down on the corner. Hey, are you Kafei?"

I smiled. "Yeah, that's what my parents call me."

He laughed. "It's nice to meet you Kafei! I'm Tortus, Anju's dad. She talks about you a lot." He held out his hand.

I didn't really know how to respond, so I just shook his hand and kept smiling. Thankfully, there wasn't an awkward pause, because Tortus went right on talking. "You'd better head on town to the range. They went down there a half hour ago. Who knows where they might be now?"

"Right, thanks. There's an actual shooting range here in Termina?" I asked.

"More or less."

* * *

I see what he meant. It wasn't a typical shooting range. It seemed more old school since it used bows and arrows. I walked in and to the right was the counter where you would pay to get the equipment. In front of me there was a huge plexi-glass wall for protection, but so you could still watch. Past the glass was the actual "range". It was only about 10 yards back and you simply shot the targets as they popped up. There were a few prizes you could win, but they weren't too exciting. To the left was a bench that people could wait for their turn. It must've been a slow day, because there wasn't anybody there.

I saw Anju and Cremia up next to the viewing wall. Kurt was using the bow and, from when I walked in, he hadn't missed one shot. I walked up behind the girls. "He's good."

They both jumped a little. Anju turned and smiled. "Hey Kafei! Finally awake?"

I nodded. "Any word from Jim yet? It was a pretty late night."

"He was texting Cremia at about 10." She told me.

"He told me he wouldn't be able to hang out until at least 5." Cremia said.

"Ok." We all went back to watching Kurt. He managed to hit all of them so far. There were only 3 more to go. "Is this his first try?" I asked them.

Anju laughed. "Oh no, he's been going at this for about 20 minutes now, determined to get them all."

"This must be costing a lot."

"Nah, it's only 20 bucks to try and if you only miss one or two, you get another free try." Cremia explained. Kurt only had one more to go. He aimed, shot, aaannnndddd… missed.

"He must be running with those free tries."

* * *

Jim met up with us at around 6:30, after all of us had eaten dinner. We had decided to go down near the laundry pool. Laundry pool doesn't seem like an appropriate name anymore, since most people have washers and driers. It would appear to be more of an exhibit, so to speak, than an actual pool. On the other hand, it doesn't seem like it would be big enough to become a public swimming pool. I'd guess it goes down about 5 ½ feet, and it isn't very wide.

"This doesn't seem like it'd be big enough to be an actual swimming pool." Anju said, as if reading my mind.

"Yeah, and it's way too big to be any kind of wading pool," Kurt added.

"And not a single person uses a communal body of water to do laundry anymore." Jim finished.

The whole Laundry Pool area was walled off. The pool itself was surrounded by a small opening, which is where we were, because that is connected to the path that leads out. There was a single tree with some shrubs around it, and a bench put in the corner. walkway on the other side. There was a small wooden bridge that connected the two pieces. Below the bridge, and across from it below a wall, there were visible grates, which I'm guessing lead into some kind of underground piping system that was connected to the ocean. At the far end of the walkway on the other side of us, there was a single door built into the wall.

"So what do you guys think they're going to do with this area?" I asked them.

Kurt shrugged. "No idea," he said. "I don't think they'll just close it off or anything, but there really isn't much this place is used for."

"I think they should leave it as is." Anju said. "While there isn't much to do here, it's a quaint area. A place to relax." She walked over and sat on the bench.

"Agreed." Jim said.

I looked around. It WAS a quiet place, which was a bit surprising, considering that right next to it was the hustle and bustle of Termina. I walked over and sat by Anju. "Do you guys come back here often?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Not anymore. We used to all the time. But eventually we just… stopped."

"Back then, I couldn't even touch the bottom of the pool." Jim told me.

"Are you sure you can now Jim?" Kurt asked laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, hilarious. Do you remember your numerous tree climbing adventures?" Jim came back with. It made Cremia laugh.

"Wait. What?" I asked.

Anju explained. "Every time we came down here, Kurt would always tell us he could climb that tree. He would give it a go, and fall right before he reached the top."

"Good times…" Kurt threw in. That made me laugh.

"Hey, what's behind that door?" I asked, pointing to the opposite site of the pool.

Anju shook her head. "We don't know. Every time we tried to open it, the door was locked."

"Does anybody know what's behind there?" I asked.

"I'm sure SOMEbody does. We just haven't met them." Jim responded.

I stared at the door. "It probably leads to somewhere in on the west side of town." I thought out loud.

Kurt looked at me, "What makes you say that?"

I picked up a stick and drew in the dirt. "Think about it." I began. The other three came to the bench. "The Laundry Pool is in the southwestern part of the southernmost part of the city of Termina."

"That sentence was confusing enough for me to lose interest." Kurt said walking to the tree.

"Go on." Anju told me.

"Right." I said, getting back to my thoughts. "Well, that door is on the western part of the Laundry Pool. As a side note, that might make it the farthest point west in the city."

"I'll be sure to write that down." Jim mocked me.

"Shut up. That door, if it goes in any kind of straight line, should lead north. If you go a little north of southwest, that puts you at west. Which means, that the door might be connected to the school, the Fireworks store, that old 'mom and pop' type of store that reminds me of a trading post, or even the Curiosity Shop."

"Makes sense." Cremia agreed.

"So which is it?" Kurt asked from the first branch of the tree.

I looked up at him and shrugged. "There's only one way to find out." I told everybody and I got up off of the bench. I crossed the bridge and was on the strip of walkway on the other side of the Laundry Pool. The others followed behind me. Kurt jumped out of the tree and jogged to catch up with us. I saw that there were fish in the pool, which confirmed my suspicions of the water coming from the ocean. We got to the door and I put my hand on the handle. To everybody's surprise, the handle actually went down.

"It's unlocked…" Anju said. I tried opening the door, but it wouldn't budge. I threw my shoulder into it, but to no avail.

"I got this." Jim said. "Kafei, just hold down the handle for me."

I did as he said, and Jim kicked the door. It opened rather forcefully, but I managed not to fall over.

The room inside was incredibly dark with no visible light source other than what was coming in through the door. Jim stepped inside and flipped on a light switch hidden behind the door. The reason for it being so dark was because I was looking at a wall. There was a staircase leading to the left, and the cut right at the top. There was a small area with boxes stacked up against a wall, and a desk across from that wall. There was a twin bed beside the boxes. The clock on the wall wasn't moving and had probably died out a long time ago. The whole place had an orange tiling with lanterns hanging from the ceiling. They also gave off an orange light which gave the room an orange color.

"Whoa…" Kurt said looking around.

"This place is kind of nice." Anju said.

"It has a quiet charm to it." Cremia added.

"True but…" I began. "What is this place? It clearly isn't any of the shops and it isn't marked on a map."

"Maybe it's a backroom to something. I mean look at all the boxes." Jim pointed out.

"I don't think so. I'm guessing they're all empty." Kurt said, having already opened three of the boxes. "Plus, I don't see any other way in than the way we came."

"Hey guys." Cremia called out. "Listen to this." She pounded on the wall and it made a hollow noise. "I'd guess there's an area less than a foot in on the other side." She told us.

"Hey, I'll go get some tools and we can see if we can get through the wall." Jim said, heading down the stairs.

"Can we just start putting hole in walls here?" I asked.

"From the looks of this place nobodies been here for years." Kurt said.

"What makes you say that?"

"The calendar says 2006." He told me, pointing to the calendar above the desk.

"Oh." I said feeling stupid for not noticing it before. Then I noticed that on the wall beside the calendar, there were four keys on a holder. I went over and took one off. "Do you think they're keys to this place?" I asked the other three.

"Only one way to find out." Anju said. We tried all of them on the door and sure enough, they all could unlock the door. I put three of them back and the hanger. "I'm keeping one." I told them.

"That's odd." Anju said.

"What? It's just in case we want to come back some time." I assured her.

She shook her head. "No, not that. Look, there are five key holders on the hanger." She pointed to the wall. She was right. There were four keys here when we got here, but one slot was open for another key.

"Maybe they only made four keys." I suggested.

"I don't know…" Kurt said. Just then, Jim came running back with a toolbox. "Ok!" he said. "Let's get to work!"

We had decided to prop Jim on a box so he could drill a hole a bit higher so it would be as noticeable. As he was working we told him about the keys. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. This place was used for something a long time ago but has since been abandoned."

After about ten minutes of drilling, hammering, and generally breaking the wall, he reached the other side. We all wanted to see, but the hole was relatively small, so Jim just told us what he saw. "Well, there are dim lights on, but there's nobody inside. Boxes on both walls. Oh, there's a desk right in front of the wall."

"Let me see." Kurt said pushing him off the box. "Hey guys, this is the Curiosity shop!" He told us.

"Hey, Kafei! You were right!" Anju said, hugging me. That made me smile.

"I hope the owner doesn't notice the hole on the other side." Kurt said. "In fact, let's cover up this side."

"Ok, look through the boxes. See if there's anything we can hang up on the wall over the hole." Anju told us. Jim and I began searching through. After a couple seconds, Jim popped up wearing a mask on his face. The mask was gold, had fairly big eyes, and a toothy grin.

"Hey guys, how do I look?" he asked.

"Better than before." I said taking the mask away from him. He glared at me, but I ignored it. "Here Kurt. Put a nail in above the hole and hang this up." He did so and the mask covered the hole perfectly.

"Great!" Anju said. "This could be our own little hang out spot."

"Yeah, as long as Kafei doesn't lose the key." Jim said.

"Your faith in me is flattering." I responded. We all headed out of the building. I turned off the lights and locked the door.


End file.
